Nine’s CFO Paul Koppelman quits as annual earnings guidance slips

Nine has chopped guidance for its full year profit due next month, and announced the departure of CFO Paul Koppelman.  

Nine has cut its full-year earnings guidance by 8%. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

In a surprise move, Nine Entertainment’s chief financial officer Paul Koppelman has quit the television and publishing company, which has also forecast a drop in full-year earnings.

Less than a year into the job, Nine said Friday that Mr Koppelman has quit for “personal reasons”, including the death of his mother-in-law, effectively immediately.

Chief executive Hugh Marks told staff that Mr Koppelman has had to “make this difficult decision for family reasons”.

In an email to staff, Mr Marks said Mr Koppelman has asked him to share his reasons for departing with them.

“My decision to stand down from my role at Nine is a deeply personal one and a time when I have had to put my family before my career,” Mr Koppelman said.

Mr Koppelman says he needs to put his family first. Picture: Supplied

“My wife suffered the loss of her much loved mother recently and she and my children need my total focus and love at this time, as we in Melbourne go back into severe COVID restrictions,” Mr Koppelman said in the email that Mr Marks sent to staff, seen by The Australian.

Mr Koppelman said the recent government COVID-19 restrictions imposed in Victoria meant he would be unable to attend Nine’s annual results presentations “and so the timing was made easier for us all”.

The departure comes just days after the company, born from Nine’s $4bn merger with Fairfax Media in December 2018, said it would release its annual results on August 27 with Mr Marks and Mr Koppelman to host an investor call at 9.30am.

Typically, company executives head out on a roadshow around the country to discuss its latest financial results with investors.

Coinciding with Mr Koppelman’s departure, Nine also issued new underlying earnings guidance of between $390m and $410m for the 2020 financial year, and net debt of around $300m.

That’s down as much as 8 per cent from Nine’s previous annual earnings forecast of about $423.8, which it dumped in March, citing poor future advertising visibility due to the coronavirus crisis.

Ad revenue has fallen more than 40 per cent across the local media industry as companies slash spending during the economic downturn.

Peter Costello-chaired Nine forecast in February annual earnings would come in at a “similar level” to last year’s $423.8m.

Mr Marks said it was sad to see Mr Koppelman leave that he understood that he “needs to put his family first”. He also said it has “great confidence” in group financial controller Graeme Cassells, who has taken over as acting CFO.

Mr Koppelman joined the media group last September following the departure of Greg Barnes after three years with Nine. Prior to that he worked at Oracle’s software company Aconex and health insurer Medibank.

Nine shares were down 1.3 per cent to $1.36 late Friday morning.